Unix Timestamp: 1058313600
Wednesday, July 16. 2003, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Following the 500,000-people protest on July 1, the government of Hong Kong is hit by two resignations of high-ranking officials in one day. One is the Financial Secretary Antony Leung and the other is the Security Secretary Regina Ip, who was in charge of the controversial Article 23. //e.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080sid=ak0n4Kcq8NgMrefer=asia

A coup d'état takes place in São Tomé and Príncipe the prime minister Maria das Neves is arrested. //www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030716.wsaotome0716/BNStory/International/

Seán Ó Muireagáin, a Northern Irish journalist, arrested by Israel and held for five days without legal representation in a case of mistaken identity, is released and leaves Israel. The affair causes considerable embarrassment to the Israeli and British secret services, the former having arrested Ó Mureagáin on the advice of the latter, who claimed incorrectly that he was a Real IRA man with the same name. In the confused aftermath, the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman suggests that Ó Muireagáin may have been guilty, while Prime Minister Sharon's spokesman states categorically that he was innocent and the entire affair an error. He claims that Ó Muireagáin is a former convicted Provisional IRA terrorist.

An 86-year-old man accidentally hits the accelerator instead of the brake at a farmer's market in Santa Monica, California, driving his car through a closed-off street and killing at least 10 people (including a 3-year-old girl and a 7-month-old boy) and injuring over 50 others. One of the dead is the daughter-in-law of actor Dennis Weaver.